From the first Black person who came to Canada about 400 years ago to the most recent wave of African…immigrants, Black Canadians have played an important role in our country's history. In this overview, kids will discover the inspiring stories and events of a people who fought oppression as they searched for a place to call their own. Featuring fact boxes, mini-profiles, a timeline and more, this book offers a glimpse into an often-overlooked part of Canadian history. Grades 3-6. 2003.

A historical work of non-fiction that chronicles the little-known stories of black railway porters--the so-called "Pullmen" of the Canadian rail…lines. The actions and spirit of these men helped define Canada as a nation in surprising ways, effecting race relations, human rights, North American multiculturalism, community building, the shape and structure of unions, and the nature of travel and business across the US and Canada. Drawing on the stories and legends of several of these influential early black Canadians, this book narrates the history of a very visible, but rarely considered, aspect of black life in railway-age Canada. These porters, who fought against the idea of Canada as White Man's Country, open only to immigrants from Europe, fought for and won a Canada that would provide opportunities for all its citizens. Bestseller. 2019.

"It would be hard to find a more upbeat, moving, and loving narrative than this... Speaking with a slight Brooklyn…accent, she tells listeners that she views life as a tremendous opportunity for love, healing, and insight."-AudioFile Magazine. This program is read by the author. A bestselling author and rabbi's profoundly affecting exploration of the meaning and purpose of the soul, inspired by the famous correspondence between Albert Einstein and a grieving rabbi. "A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separate from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness..." -Albert Einstein. When Rabbi Naomi Levy came across this poignant letter by Einstein it shook her to her core. His words perfectly captured what she has come to believe about the human condition: That we are intimately connected, and that we are blind to this truth. Levy wondered what had elicited such spiritual wisdom from a man of science? Thus began a three-year search into the mystery of Einstein's letter, and into the mystery of the human soul. What emerges is an inspiring, deeply affecting audiobook for people of all faiths filled with universal truths that will help us reclaim our own souls and glimpse the unity that has been evading us. We all long to see more expansively, to live up to our gifts, to understand why we are here. In Einstein and the Rabbi, Levy leads us on a breathtaking journey full of wisdom, empathy and humor, challenging us to wake up and heed the voice calling from within-a voice beckoning us to become who we were born be.

As the twentieth century ended, Canada was completing its sixth term on the UN Security Council. A decade later, Ottawa’s…attempt to return to the council was dramatically rejected by its global peers, leaving Canadians – and international observers – shocked and disappointed. Canada on the United Nations Security Council tells the story of that defeat and what it means for future campaigns, describing and analyzing Canada’s attempts since 1946, both successful and unsuccessful, to gain a seat as a non-permanent member. Impeccably researched and clearly written, this is the definitive history of the Canadian experience on the world’s most powerful stage.

Spanning the years 1880-1930, this book sheds light on the significant roles ranch women played in the evolution of the…Alberta agricultural industry. The book encapsulates an era of change on the Prairies, from the time of large cattle operations covering thousands of acres to family-owned ranches that subsisted on much less, but with arguably greater success. The role women played in ensuring the economic viability and social harmony of their families, ranches and communities should not be underestimated. Having to shoulder a variety of tasks and roles, ranch women of this era, while perhaps having more freedom and independence than their urban or European counterparts, faced a myriad of challenges. For some, these previously unimaginable challenges proved too much, but for others, it was simply part of the adventure. This book pays homage to the brave and talented women who rode out in the hills, carving out a role for themselves, during the dawn of the family ranching era. 2017.

On November 18, 1929, a tsunami struck Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. Giant waves, up to three storeys high, hit the coast…at a hundred kilometres per hour, flooding dozens of communities and washing entire houses out to sea. The most destructive earthquake-related event in Newfoundland's history, the disaster killed twenty-eight people and left hundreds more homeless or destitute. It took days for the outside world to find out about the death and damage caused by the tsunami, which forever changed the lives of the inhabitants of the fishing outports along the Burin Peninsula. Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning writer Linden MacIntyre was born near St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, one of the villages virtually destroyed by the tsunami. By the time of his birth, the cod-fishing industry lay in ruins and the village had become a mining town. MacIntyre's father, lured from Cape Breton to Newfoundland by a steady salary, worked in St. Lawrence in an underground mine that was later found to be radioactive. Hundreds of miners would die; hundreds more would struggle through shortened lives profoundly compromised by lung diseases ranging from silicosis and bronchitis to cancer. As MacIntyre says, though the tsunami killed twenty-eight people in 1929, it would claim hundreds if not thousands more lives in the decades to follow. Bestseller. 2019.

On December 6, 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and…one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts.Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

Did you know pirates once sailed the seas around Atlantic Canada? Pirates might seem like fun in the movies, but…back in the 17th and 18th centuries—the Golden Age of Piracy—being a pirate was very serious business. From the Hackmatack award-shortlisted author of Oak Island and the Search for Buried Treasure comes the newest book from Nimbus's popular Compass series for young readers. Learn about what everyday life was like for some of the fiercest pirates of all time. Explore the history of piracy, from the ancient Romans and Greeks to modern-day pirates. How did pirates navigate the seas? What happened if they were caught? Did pirates really bury treasure? This full-colour non-fiction book includes highlighted glossary terms, informative sidebars, over 50 colour illustrations and historical photographs, an index, and recommended further reading.

One glorious autumn day in 1894, a drifter attacked thirteen-year-old Jessie Keith so violently that people thought Jack the Ripper…must be loose in rural Ontario. To solve the crime, the government called in Detective John Wilson Murray, the true-life model for Detective William Murdoch of the popular TV series Murdoch Mysteries. His prime clue was a black valise. The Man with the Black Valise traces the killer's trajectory through three counties-a route that today connects travelers to poignant reminders of nineteenth-century life. Chief among them stands the statue of the Roman goddess Flora, gesturing as though to cast roses onto Jessie's grave

Lacrosse has been a central element of Indigenous cultures for centuries, but once non-Indigenous players entered the sport, it became…a site of appropriation – then reclamation – of Indigenous identities. The Creator’s Game focuses on the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities from the 1860s to the 1990s, exploring Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations and Indigenous identity formation. While the game was being appropriated in the process of constructing a new identity for the nation-state of Canada, it was also being used by Indigenous peoples to resist residential school experiences, initiate pan-Indigenous political mobilization, and articulate Indigenous sovereignty. This engaging and innovative book provides a unique view of Indigenous self-determination and nationhood in the face of settler-colonialism.

Did you know that you can walk on the ocean floor at the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick? Or that…there was once a UFO sighting in PEI? Or that someone found a real Maud Lewis painting in a thrift shop? Journalist Sarah Sawler, author of the bestselling 100 Things You Don't Know About Nova Scotia, has collected the most interesting, surprising, and bizarre facts that you never knew about Atlantic Canada, just for kids. 100 Things You Don't Know About Atlantic Canada (for Kids) includes fun photos and helpful explanations that go with all the wacky and weird trivia that is sure to entertain and educate. As an added bonus, each 'thing' is paired with an interactive sidebar suggesting fun family activities, and places to visit.

July 1st 1867 is celebrated as Canada's Confederation, but 1867 was only the beginning. As the country grew from a…small dominion to a vast federation encompassing ten provinces, three territories, and hundreds of First Nations, its leaders repeatedly debated Canada's purpose, and the benefits and drawbacks of the choice to be Canadian. "Reconsidering Confederation" brings together Canada's leading historians to explore how the provinces, territories, and Treaty areas became the political frameworks we know today. In partnership with The Confederation Debates, an ongoing crowdsourced, non-partisan, and non-profit initiative to digitize all of Canada's founding colonial and federal records, this book breaks new ground by integrating the treaties between Indigenous peoples and the Crown into our understanding of Confederation. Rigorously researched and eminently readable, this book traces the unique paths that each province and territory took on their journey to Confederation. It shows the roots of regional and cultural grievances, as vital and controversial in early debates as they are today.

Women's Health expert Lorraine Greaves details the innovative, courageous, and creative activism of the “second wave” women’s health movement in…Canada between 1960 and 2010. This activism (re)claimed women’s bodies, created women-centered spaces and services, and challenged the medical model. Feminists challenged diagnoses, treatments, laws, policies and research, as well as the care women were offered and the way they saw their bodies and themselves. Legions of women, and a few men, made changes ranging from abortion rights to preserving women’s hospitals, to the legalization of midwifery to requiring gendered health research—changes that resonate today.

Finalist for Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Prize (BC Book Prizes); Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award; City of Vancouver…Book Award When forty-year-old Esther Castellani died a slow and agonizing death in Vancouver in 1965, the official cause was at first undetermined. The day after Esther's funeral, her husband, Rene, packed up his girlfriend, Lolly; his daughter, Jeannine; and Lolly's son, Don, in the company car and took off for Disneyland. If not for the doggedness of the doctor who treated Esther, Rene, then a charismatic and handsome CKNW radio personality, would have been free to marry Lolly, who was the station's pretty twentysomething receptionist. Instead, Rene was charged with capital murder for poisoning his wife with arsenic-laced milkshakes in one of British Columbia's most sensational criminal cases of the century. Murder by Milkshake is the compelling story of the Castellanis, and of their daughter, Jeannine, who was eleven at the time of her mother's murder and who clung to her father's innocence, even committing perjury during his trial. Rigorously researched, and based on dozens of interviews with family, friends, and co-workers, Murder by Milkshake documents the sensational case that kept Vancouver spellbound, while providing a snapshot of the city's Mad Men-esque social and political realities in the 1960s.

After the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885 - construction of the western stretch was largely built by Chinese…workers - the Canadian government imposed a punitive head tax to deter Chinese citizens from coming to Canada. The exorbitant tax strongly discouraged those who had already emigrated from sending for wives and children left in China, effectively splintering families. After raising the tax twice, the Canadian government eventually brought in legislation to stop Chinese immigration altogether. The ban was not repealed until 1947. It was not until June 22, 2006, that Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized to the Chinese Canadian community for the Government of Canada's racist legacy. Until now, little had been written about the events leading up to the apology. Dere's is the first book to explore the work of the head tax redress movement and to give voice to the generations of Chinese Canadians involved. Dere explores the many obstacles in the Chinese Canadian community's fight for justice, the lasting effects of state-legislated racism and the unique struggle of being Chinese in Quebec. This is also a personal story. Dere dedicated himself to the head tax redress campaign for over two decades. His grandfather and father each paid the five-hundred-dollar head tax, and the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act separated his family for thirty years. Dere tells of his family members' experiences; his own political awakenings; the federal government's offer of partial redress and what it means to move forward - for himself, his children and the community as a whole. Many in multicultural Canada feel the issues of cultural identity and the struggle for belonging. Although 'Being Chinese in Canada' is a personal recollection and an exploration of the history and culture of Chinese Canadians, the themes of inclusion and kinship are timely and will resonate with Canadians of all backgrounds. 2019.

In the aftermath of World War II, more than 4,500 Polish veterans, displaced by the war events and the emerging…Soviet-oriented Polish government, were resettled in Canada as farm workers; 750 of these men were accepted by the province of Alberta. Examines how these former soldiers experienced their new country and its sometimes-harsh postwar realities. This compelling work of social history is brought to life through the words and stories of four veterans, whose remembrances provide an intimate firsthand look at a moment of Canada's past that is at risk of being forgotten. 2018.

Toronto is a place that people move to in order to be queer of colour and live in queer of…colour communities. Yet the city's rich history of activism by queer and trans people who are Black, Indigenous, or of colour (QTBIPOC) remains largely unwritten and unarchived. While QTBIPOC have a long and visible presence in the city, they always appear as newcomers in queer urban maps and archives in which white queers appear as the only historical subjects imaginable. The first collection of its kind to feature the art, activism, and writings of QTBIPOC in Toronto, 'Marvellous Grounds' tells the stories that have shaped Toronto's landscape but are frequently forgotten or erased. Responding to an unmistakable desire in QTBIPOC communities for history and lineage, this rich volume allows us to imagine new ancestors and new futures. 2018.